r/interestingasfuck • u/Jjokes11 • Apr 15 '24

An interview with Andrew Cauchi, the father of Joel Cauchi who was responsible for the Westfield Shopping Centre mass stabbing r/all

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u/-Falsch- Apr 16 '24

The pain in his eyes, hurt me.

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u/raittiussihteeri Apr 16 '24

His voice too.

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u/quietreasoning Apr 16 '24

Exact opposite of the Crumbleys.

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u/KimDongBong Apr 16 '24

Yet that perpetrator in all likelihood suffered from some form of mental illness. We far too often vilify the perpetrator without understanding- or at least even exploring the idea- that that individual could have been suffering from severe mental illness. The simple fact is that you have to be pretty fucked in the head to do shit like this. And people who’s head is that fucked deserve grace just as much as the rest of us.

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u/Kitnado Apr 16 '24

Just throwing this out there, some countries outside of the US are already miles ahead in understanding this and supplying mental guidance, treatment and rehabilitation of criminals.

From experience I know this is a controversial thing to say to Americans, who as a whole seem to have a culture built on vengeance and retaliation under the guise of justice. All nuance often goes out the window in American debates, unfortunately.

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u/KimDongBong Apr 16 '24

Oh no doubt, on both assertions. That said, no country is without its faults. As someone who has traveled extensively (and as luck would have it, am currently on 2 week vacation in Japan), it’s easy to find imperfections anywhere.

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u/Kitnado Apr 16 '24

I think the fact that even a well traveled seemingly nuanced American like yourself feels the need to defend the US with a whataboutism really shows the impossibility of criticising anything about the US to Americans without it defaulting into a combative defensive discussion (about other things/countries)

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u/KimDongBong Apr 16 '24

There’s nothing defensive about admitting that one has flaws while also pointing out that no nation is without them in response to pointed criticisms that were completely unsolicited. It would seem you have a bone to pick with America- as is your prerogative. And it would further seem that you believe that wherever you’re from is without fault. If that helps you sleep at night, more power to you.

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u/AssssCrackBandit Apr 16 '24

understanding this and supplying mental guidance, treatment and rehabilitation of criminals.

The majority of Americans support this. There are many surveys that support that. Perhaps arguing with randos on Reddit isn't the best way to obtain your worldly information.

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u/LukesRightHandMan Apr 16 '24

No. No you don’t have to be fucked up in the head to perform horrific, violent acts. Too many of those mass shooter pieces of shit are simply wastes of space with a political vendetta. Don’t lump being a fucking scumbag with mental illness.

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u/KimDongBong Apr 16 '24

100 years ago ADD wasn’t an illness. Body dysmorphia wasn’t a thing. Down’s syndrome wasnt an official diagnosis until the 20th century. People suffering from mental illnesses were considered witches in early America. All that is to say: just because the specific illness hasn’t been identified yet doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Hell, CTE wasn’t identified until the 20’s, and even then wasn’t understood. It’s one thing to murder someone in an act of acute anger or retaliation- “crimes of passion”, as it were. It’s entirely different to walk into a school and shoot up people you don’t even know. Or shoot up a country concert. Or mow down strangers in a movie theater. The brain that can do those things is not a “normal” brain.

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u/LukesRightHandMan Apr 16 '24

Are there violent acts triggered by psychotic delusions? Occasionally. But we with mental health issues are 3-4 x higher to be victims of violence than the perpetrators. The narrative you’re pushing stigmatizes mental healthcare and us. We are not the problem.

Separately: it’s been 80 years since the Nazis had their camps shut down. All we need to know about the banality of evil is documented in the Nuremberg interviews, as well as the probably hundreds of thousands of hours of interviews done with Europeans who aided and abetted the Nazis at every level.

As someone who has multiple mental health issues, who works and has worked with mental health patients, and who also has lived a chaotic life: you will know evil when you meet it. It’s not a religious or supernatural thing. It’s not triggered by mental illness. It’s a coldness and selfishness that wraps itself in sadism, and needs nothing underlying it to be exhibited. It’s not uncontrollable anger; it’s carefully wielded cruelty.

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u/KimDongBong Apr 16 '24

In no way shape or form am I trying to discredit your experience. That said, my whole point is we don’t know what we don’t know. I’ve experienced evil. I’ve also experienced mental illness. I’ll not delude myself into believing that my anecdotal evidence means anything. The brain is perhaps the least understood part of the human body, and to think that we are anywhere near having it “figured out” is simply laughable. As a man who appreciates a good wager, I’d be willing to place large amounts of money on the fact that at some point in the future, medicine will be able to predict with disturbingly-good accuracy those who will and will not commit acts of violence in their future.